CLEVELAND — The Orlando Magic now have played 50 games this regular season. After all that time, they should know they must improve their team defense.

That lesson just doesn't seem to be getting through, at least not well enough.

Breakdowns on defense, an inability to defend without fouling and an avalanche of turnovers doomed the Magic on Friday night. They lost a winnable game against the Cleveland Cavaliers, another rebuilding team, 119-108 at Quicken Loans Arena.

"It's everything," said point guard and co-captain Jameer Nelson. "It's communication. It's mental lapses. It's just being smart on rotations. There's a numerous amount of things that are going on that we can correct. But we obviously have to have some type of sense of urgency to correct them."

The defeat extended the Magic's losing streak to 12 consecutive games, the longest losing streak since the team lost 13 consecutive games in the 2004 season.

"We're going to have to hold teams in the low 90s or 80s," said wing Arron Afflalo. "So when teams are scoring 119, we're not going to win."

The Cavaliers ended the third quarter on an 8-0 run to take an 85-80 lead.

Their momentum continued into the final period. Shaun Livingston hit a short jumper, and Wayne Ellington swished a 3-pointer to extend the Cavs' lead to 90-80.

But the Magic cut the deficit to 104-101 on a hook by Vucevic with 4:42 left.

Cleveland (16-34) countered by scoring seven consecutive points.

C.J. Miles hit a runner from 8 feet. Kyrie Irving made a driving layup. Irving hit a jumper from 16 feet. And then Irving drew Nicholson's final foul of the night and converted one of the two free throws.

"That's just too many easy points," Vucevic said. "Also, we gave them a lot of second-chance opportunities. We have to foul a lot less. We're not a team that's just going to outscore everybody."

The Magic played one of their better games offensively in weeks — if you don't count the turnovers.

They made 52.3 percent of their shot attempts.

Afflalo, who played for the first time since he strained his left calf on Jan. 27, scored 23 points on 9-of-17 shooting.

Still, eight of the nine Magic players who stepped on the floor committed at least one turnover.

Nelson had six of them while Afflalo had three.

"I hate turning the ball over," Afflalo said. "I had a few little out-of-rhythm turnovers. But outside of that, I felt OK."

Nelson scored 15 points on 5-of-16 shooting, and he had 12 assists.

The Cavaliers tried to deny him the ball on inbounds plays and occasionally assigned 6-foot-6 Alonzo Gee to defend Nelson one-on-one.

That may have contributed to Orlando's turnover troubles.

"We complicate the game when it doesn't need to be complicated," Magic coach Jacque Vaughn said. "When our defense is set, I'll take those odds for them [trying to score] in front of us. But teams are too athletic and too fast if you let them get out in transition. If you turn the basketball over, it's going to be an uphill battle."